Hummingbird Magnet for Glendale Landscaping

These tiny birds are fascinating and many are eager to attract them to their yard. You’ll need more than red-tinted sugar water in a hummingbird feeder though if you want to keep the hummingbirds around as they require a great deal of nutrition each day. This means planting a collection of plants whose flower’s nectar are high in sugar content. You see, it isn’t just any bloom that attracts hummers, they tend to be drawn to those with red, orange or yellow blooms with a scent. Once there is a plant that grabs their attention and supplies them with a good food source, they will find other flowers with good levels of sugar and make use of them too – if they are present in the area around your Arizona home.

In the region around Scottsdale, Phoenix and Glendale, one great addition to any butterfly or hummingbird garden is the Firecracker Bush. This selection also feeds other birds once the berries are mature that follow the flowers. Its an attractive plant for your Glendale landscaping and sizable enough to provide good mass and height to the design of such a planting.

The scientific name for Firecracker Bush is Hamelia patens. It is a native of the tropic and subtropic regions of South America and Florida. The shrub is well adapted to the climate and conditions in Texas and Arizona.

Visual appeal is found in the natural shape and colorful components. The foliage when new is kissed with a reddish hue and the branches are also a pleasant red tone. The fiery red clusters of tubular blooms are borne on the ends of the stems from spring to fall, providing both lovely color for your Glendale landscaping and abundant nectar for your hummingbirds too.

Blooming is more abundant in full sun, but the high temperatures of a Phoenix-Scottsdale area summer makes it best to plant the Firecracker Bush in part shade. Here it will require less water to remain undistressed.

Other plants that will do well in our climate that complete Arizona hummingbird gardens are:

Aloes

Anise Hyssop (Agastache)

Bee Balm (Monarda)

Shrimp Plant (Chuperosa)

Desert Honeysuckle (Anisacanthus thurberi)

Mexican Flame Vine (Senecio confusus)

Pentas

Beardtongue (Penstemmon)

Petunia

Red Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia pulcherrima)

Sage varieties (Salvias)

Young plants do require some pruning regularly as they mature to achieve a nicely full and bushy look in your Scottsdale, Phoenix or Glendale landscaping. They grow very quickly, so don’t be worried about having an unimpressive looking shrub in your yard for several years. In colder areas of the country, Firecracker Bush is treated as an annual that can grow to 3 feet tall in just one season. Here in Arizona hummingbird gardens, this shrub will rapidly grow into the lovely plant you were expecting.